David Pollack Names Best Head Coach in College Football

The college football hot stove league always leads to consideration of the top coaches in the sport. Given the miracle run that Curt Cignetti has made at Indiana, he's often the most popular head coach in college football. But there's still room for differences of opinion.

Sarkisian, Muschamp, and Smart

College football analyst David Pollack weighed in on a few of the top coaches in college football on his See Ball Get Ball show. He and writer Brent Rollins from On3 and Pro Football Focus discussed Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. Rollins gave Sarkisian credit for bringing in Will Muschamp. He noted that Texas "has a Georgia problem" and praised the thinking on bringing in Muschamp.

"Out of all the people that we talked about that's been brough on board, I think Muschamp's the most important," said Pollack. "Sark is California. Sark is chill. Sark is laid back. Muschamp is not. If you're not going to be the dog that bites, I need to bring in the dog that bites."

Pollack then paid tribute to Sarkisian's rival noting, "The best coach in college football is Kirby Smart." He praised the hiring of Muschamp as offering Sarkisian a clue as to "why he kicks [Sarkisian] in the teeth."

The praise for Smart is reasonable, if a bit surprising in timing. When Smart overtook Saban as the top SEC coach off back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022, the consensus in college football was that he was the sport's top coach. But watching the Big Ten win three straight CFP titles could take a bit of the shine off Smart.

Smart's resume

But the credentials are certainly solid. Smart is 117-21 at Georgia, which includes a struggling 8-5 season in his first season . In the nine seasons since that opening season, Georgia has never lost more than three games and has failed to win 11 or more games only in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

Smart's defensive-focused football might be a bit out of fashion. Between Ryan Day's Ohio State team and Cignetti's Indiana squad, high-scoring offenses with elaborate passing games seem to be the order of the day. Georgia couldn't keep Carson Beck around and then struggled horribly at the wide receiver position. After averaging 38.6, 41.1, and 40.1 points per game from 2021 to 2023, Georgia averaged 31.5 and 32.1 points per game over the past two seasons.

But Texas and Sarkisian are plaining still chasing Smart, and Pollack's endorsement shows that plenty still see the Georgia boss as the gold standard in the college football coaching world.